Following on from the display of the stunning Concept Sportback earlier this month at the
Frankfurt Motor Show, Mitsubishi has announced the debut of another striking concept at next month's
Tokyo Motor Show. The Concept-X is thought to be very close to the next Evo (funnily enough to be the Evo X), and this time the show car is more than just a styling exercise.
In Frankfurt, Mitsubishi's press material waffled on about the sporty design language of the Colt and
Grandis and how the next generation of Mitsubishi cars would use the Concept Sportback as a starting point. This was all very good news, and we were not alone in seeing Evo potential in the concept, but the only mention of the car's mechanicals was to do with the fact that Mitsubishi is sharing a platform with DaimlerChrysler for a wide new family of front and four-wheel drive models. The Concept-X to be shown at next month's Tokyo Motor Show brings the concept a lot closer to reality, with proper technical specifications, an interior, and apparently the show car is a runner too.
Let's cut to the chase; the Japanese manufacturers have had an agreement for years now limiting power output of their cars to 276bhp. In the UK we've been blessed with the foresight of our importers, commissioning market-specific upgrades. It is now quite normal for a UK market Lancer Evo to come with 300bhp (there was even a fiery
405bhp official version!), but murmurings in the industry suggest that the agreement has gone out the window and a whole new generation of powerful Japanese sportscars will appear on the scene, probably starting with the Tokyo Show. The details Mitsubishi has released for the Concept-X (only a concept remember...) unsurprisingly mention a 2-litre DOHC turbocharged four-cylinder engine with an intercooler. It also features Mitsubishi's MIVEC variable valve timing system to spread the torque curve out over the whole engine range (as used on the
Evo IX). The official press release does not mention power output, but we found a Japanese website linked to the official Tokyo Show that is quoting 300PS (295bhp). It remains to be seen whether the engine can be made to pass tough emissions laws while producing such power.
Other new details on the concept are possibilities for production. The most radical for this type of car is a six-speed clutchless gearbox. Mitsubishi are simply calling it an auto-manual, though comments regarding increased efficiency along with quicker change times suggest a possible new dual-clutch system similar to Audi's DSG 'box or perhaps even something similar to the SMG 'box fitted to
BMW's awesome M5. If Mitsubishi does offer such a system, we hope there is a manual option too.
Mitsubishi hints at a much stiffer overall body than the outgoing Lancer, and to save weight, aluminium is used for the roof, bonnet, boot lid, bumpers and even the door panels. The driver-orientated four-wheel drive system has been significantly upgraded, and is now to be known as Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC). The Active Centre Differential (ACD) and Super Active Yaw Control (AYC) remain, and are added to by Active Brake Control, Active Steering System and something called Roll Control Suspension. The latter could well be an active anti-roll bar system as many of the WRC teams use. Needless to say we are salivating at the prospect of driving the Evo X, though the production version may not rear its head until the
2006 Geneva Motor Show.
Before that though we'll be taking our first trip to the weird and wonderful Tokyo Motor Show next month, so keep an eye out for updates from the show.
Shane O' Donoghue - 29 Sep 2005
